15.2 Lb Baby Andrew Jacob in Intensive Care

Baby Andrew Jacob, who weighed in at 15.2 pounds and 24 inches long, was delivered via an emergency C-section to his parents, Vanessa and Daniel Cervantez of Hesperia, on January 16, 2014.

His birth made headlines for being amongst one of the largest babies born this year, and is believed to be the biggest baby ever born at Desert Valley Medical Center, in Victorville.

After his joyous celebration and welcoming into the world, he was immediately flown out to Loma Linda Children’s Hospital following complications with his breathing, and has not been able to leave as of yet.

Baby Andrew Jacob is in the intensive care unit experiencing complications from what is known as pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary hypertension is a clinical syndrome where the blood flow that leaves the right side of the heart faces an increased resistance (pressure). The blood vessels of the lungs have an increased amount of muscle in the walls this causing higher resistance in the lungs.

The right ventricle has to work harder to pump blood out to the lungs. The right ventricle may enlarge and thicken in response to this extra work. With time, the extra work placed on the right side of the heart can cause damage.

The family of Andrew Jacob is hoping to rally up the support of the community in hopes that someone with experience in this disease will come forward and provide their expertise on this medical issue.

“We’re trying to get word out to see if anybody can help; such as a doctor who might have more experience with these complications,” stated his Aunt, Jennifer Murrillo. “He is being put on an ECMO machine, please help us get the word out to someone who can help, that would be greatly appreciated.”

ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) is a procedure that uses a machine to take over the work of the lungs and sometimes the heart. ECMO is used for babies, children and adults. It is a special way for a machine to help a child, while he or she is very sick.